Is It Feasible to Use Negative-pressure Wound Therapy to Treat Complex Wounds within the Brazilian Unified Health System?

Abstract

Objective Complex wounds are difficult-to-manage injuries that generate high patient morbidity and mortality and have shown a significant increase in prevalence. Due to their high institutional cost, there is a search for technologies that can accelerate the healing process. Therefore, negative pressure wound therapy (NPWT) emerges as a treatment option. The present study aims to review the literature on the use of NPWT in the treatment of complex wounds, to evaluate its adoption and create a proposal for guidance on how this technique can be applied in the treatment of patients hospitalized in the Brazilian Unified Health System (Sistema Único de Saúde – SUS, in Portuguese). Materials and Methods The current integrative literature review is characterized by a qualitative focus and an exploratory context. The search was conducted across PubMed, Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO), and Academic Google databases. Specific keywords, wounds and injuries, wound closure techniques, negative-pressure wound therapy, and wound healing, were used. Inclusion criteria encompassed original articles and systematic reviews published between 2002 and 2022 in Portuguese, English, or Spanish, focusing on NPWT. Exclusions included unrelated topics, incom-plete texts, basic forms of NPWT (without patent), studies from vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) manufacturing industries, and articles in which VAC was not employed for the closure of complex wounds. Conclusion Despite the significant costs associated with vacuum therapy, this technique has demonstrated effectiveness in reducing healing time, hospitalization length, and consequently alleviating the overall financial burden of treating complex wounds. Simultaneously, it has the potential to significantly improve the quality of life for affected patients.